Author
Topic: Dreams of a Tortured Soul (Read 1520 times)

Zurn nodded, "I unerstan'." At once he started out towards the tavern doubletime.

On his way Zurn was thinking about his quiet life in Gorna. He never dreamed that he would be fighting to save someone's soul. Most priests in Gorna when he was growing up would be an advisor or a healer. Gorna was a quiet town that grew crops and livestock. Now, he was a soldier in a war between gods! He swore to himself that he would not disappoint Ehlonna. Dannobar had to have salvation.

Zurn got to the door of the tavern and burst in slightly out of breath. "Valen...*breath*...Belwar...*breath*...Lady Corryn be wantin' us to be in Coris's chamber right away...like, now. Well, Belwar ye don't have to come but ye might be wantin' ta hear what she be havin' ta say."

"I don't know Belwar, Brother." Lady Corryn answered, neither turning nor pausing in her step towards the inner bailey. "Use your judgment and bring him if you think that it would be prudent, but do not wait for them to be finished with their talk. Theirs is not as important as ours."

Zurn was taken by Corryn's asertiveness. Given the alertness that she displayed, Zurn thought that was much to be known and that his haste will be required. "Right now Valen an' Bewar be speakin' in tha tavern. I be waitin' fer him ta be done with it to talk ta him meself. I'll git him an be meetin' with ye in Coris's office as ye request."

Zurn began to bolt out of the door to the chapel but then stopped short and turned to Lady Corryn and askes, "Oh, should I be gettin' Belwar too. He may be wantin' to know some o this stuff about the Vortok. It may also give him more of a reason ta be goin' inta the guts o tha' beast...if ye take me meaning..."

Lady Corryn listened with growing intensity to Zurn's narrative. "There is much." She answered. "But we need more than you and I to talk on it." She stood then, rather purposefully it seemed. "Zurn, go and get Brother Vallen, take him from whatever he is doing and bring him to Coris's office. Immediately. We will all want to be together for this conversation."

Lady Corryn seemed transformed to Zurn. Her voice, while still lovely and caring, was brisk and businesslike now. She was far more commanding than Zurn had thus far seen her, and she pulled with surprising strength upon Zurn's arm to lift him from the pew and guided him firmly towards the door of the chapel as she spoke. She glided still, but more pointedly, as it were, while she held aloft her candle and walked barefoot out into the inner bailey.

"If you cannot find Brother Vallen, do not fret, but come yourself to Coris's office with whatever haste you can muster. Wake him if you must."

"Well," Zurn says, "not so much hauntin' me as they be visions o one tha' be haunted. "Valen talked earlier o' Dannobar being in the grip o the Vulture King. It sunddenly made sense ta me what me dream be about. Dannobar be a tortured soul tha' be repentent o what he done. In the the dream a white unicorn, this be Ehlonna, was standin' o'er a blody faceless man. A great vulture, Vortok methinks, appeared through this manifested symbol (he shows the circle of squares) in tha' sky and came down upon tha unicorn. Tha dirty bird grabbed the helpless man and tried ta pull him away from our lady. The man began ta scream his apologies and genuinly seemed sorry for what he done..."

Zurn looks to the great symbol of Ehlonna and says, "Dannobar's soul is not yet lost. Vortok had a grip but hadn't taken him away entirely. Ta keep Vortok from gainin' any more souls...'specially unwilling ones...and ta aid Ehlonna in that salvation I be needin' as much information on Vortok as I can get. Do ya have any more knowin' on this defiler Vortok?"

Lady Corryn studied Zurn as he plodded along the aisle towards the pew where she sat half-turned. Her face was remarkably illuminated by the lone candle, and Zurn could see her eyes sharpen as he spoke. "Are your dreams haunting you, brother?" She asked.

Zurn enters the chapel and nods to the great symbol of Ehlonna. The symbol of Ehlonna is barely lit by the faint glow of the candle next to Lady Corryn. He turns to her seeing face cast in the peculiar light and says, "Thank ye milady. Yer a gentle soul, ye are. It dinna seem ta be right that ye be staying in walls o' stone like this. It should be more like a field o flowers methinks!" Zurn says.

"The light from tha' candle be makin' this house of hers seem kinna like a dream. A mystical dream tha' speaks o the beauty o the night. But not all dreams be beautiful methinks. Some can be dark and disturbing." Zurn says in a sullen tone.

"Please, Brother, you are always welcome in Mother's temple." She said. "You sound in need. What's wrong?" As Zurn entered the temple and stomped down the aisle towards the altar and Lady Corryn, he could see that her hair was let down. If flowed in tumbling curves well past her slender shoulders near to the small of her back. She was wearing a plain nightshirt that hovered a mere few fingers above her bare feet. She held a candle aloft in a wooden holder as she moved to sit in a pew near the front of the temple.

A small light flittered in the depths of the chapel. "Yes?" A smooth voice answered Zurn's harsher one. "Is that you, Zurn?" Peering through the intervening darkness, Zurn could see the slim form of Lady Corryn standing at the far end of the chapel.

After a few minutes that seem to be a lifetime Zurn says to himself, "I canna wait no longer. I got me some questions tha' be needin' some answers."

Zurn rights himself and heads across the compound to the chapel. Arriving at the door he quietly lifts the latch and slowly opens the door to keep it quiet. *Creeeeeeek* Under his breath Zurn says, "Blast it all! A squeeky door!"

Zurn pops his head in and looks around. On the far wall to his right he sees the large symbol of Ehlonna eerily lit by two flickering candles. " 'ello? Lady Corryn...are you here? I wish ta speak wit' ya..."